I basically spent a full shift plus a couple hours of overtime at Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins yesterday. I didn't intend to stay that long but the birds were exciting enough to eventually make me want to see what a daylight cycle (minus sunrise, which is a phenomenon my biological clock only hears rumors about) looks like.
No RBA species, really, just "rich" in species not often seen, behaviors, etc.
Four species new to my Grandview Cemetery list for 2017: Cassin's Finch, Lincoln's Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow and Merlin.
The Cassin's Finch was a heard-only flyover. I thought I had heard one a week or so ago. Then studying the one, including its voice, at Roselawn Cemetery in eastern Ft. Collins, also last week, I pulled the trigger on the one heard today with more confidence.
The Lincoln's Sparrow spent most of the day picking things from the surface of the drying up ditch water (and hiding) south of the bridge going into the Equipment Yard (well south of the entry bridge). Never can figure out what they are getting. Their general stealth extends to their dietary habits.
The Gambel's white-crown, while certainly not rare at low elevation in CO after early October, is a once or twice-a-year kind of bird in the understory-challenged world of this cemetery. The recent change in management of the ditchbanks (i.e. letting them be more "rough" by less mowing, more tolerance of naturalized woody vegetation) may improve the prospects on that score. Looked to me like the sparrow (and juncos) were mostly after seeds of a Polygonum species growing as a weed along the road in the southeastern corner. As with the now-departed White-throated Sparrow and Hermit Thrush present in this same area last week, the white-crown may well have been getting European Buckthorn berries, also.
The Merlin, a prairie female (or immature), was T-ed up atop a large spruce in the center of the cemetery, I think hoping to score an early supper of House Finch or Red Crossbill.
Other flyovers heard only included American Goldfinch and Pine Siskin.
Yellow-rumped Warblers are getting sparse (only 4 singles detected today). Adult psyllid hatch is essentially over, with zillions now mostly nestled into their overwintering sites amid and under scaly bark of spruce (mostly) and other trees, including hackberry. A Ruby-crowned Kinglet will probably overwinter on adult psyllids in the big northern hackberry known to locals as the "Cape May Tree" (ne corner of Section E).
I heard or saw Red Crossbills on three occasions during the visit. A single heard only soon after arriving sounded like a 2. A small heard only group that I think sneaked in to drink water from the ditch but zipped off before I figured this out, sounded like 4s (liquid, upslurred "quip", very different from the hard "kip" of 2s or 5s). Then a large group of about 15 were photographed near the Fireman Statue in the center of the cemetery getting blue spruce seeds, presumably 2s, judging by the size of beaks and sound (see male in attached photo).
The red-phase Eastern Screech-Owl, which has been seen very sporadically since its initial discovery on September 19 (who knows how long it was around before that), appeared very late in the day. Out of respect for the bird, that's all I'm going to say.
Total species: 25. Year List for Grandview Cemetery now stands at 97, which is about normal for this date and my lack of visitation in spring due to being out of the state. Species that could still show up: mountain corvids (Steller's or Woodhouse's Jays most likely), Pine Grosbeak, White-winged Crossbill, Snow Goose flyover, Varied Thrush, Wood Thrush, Common Redpoll, American Pipit flyover, Pine Warbler, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, stub-tailed wren, Green-tailed Towhee, Lapland Longspur flyover, Bohemian Waxwing and Evening Grosbeak flyover. 100 is my totally artificial goal every year, which should be achievable with reasonable luck and 50-75 visits scattered thru the seasons, more frequent during peak migration periods. I would love to see one of the two Fox Sparrows seen by David Wade in his yard only a couple blocks away. That would be a new species for Grandview, ever, but given the aforementioned lack of understory, the odds are probably against such an occurrence. Who knows?
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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